10 Things That Are Germier Than a Toilet Seat

Here's a disgusting fact: Fecal matter is everywhere. You're probably fastidious about washing your hands after using the bathroom, but what about after using your own cell phone? Your toothbrush? No? Well, E. coli could be stewing on both those things and other items that you get your paws on every day. Here's 10 to watch out for.

Your cell phone

That thing you're pressing to your face? There's a 16 percent chance it has fecal matter on it, London researchers found. And even if it's not brimming with E. coli, nine in 10 cell phones carry some kind of disease-causing germ, like influenza or MRSA. Think about it: You take your cell phone everywhere—public transit, the bathroom, the office—and you never clean it.

YOUR FIX: Wipe it with an electronic-safe disinfectant wipe like Wireless Wipes or CleanTouch once a week, says Charles Gerba, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona.

Your grill

You probably cleaned your toilet more recently than you cleaned your grill—and that's not a wise choice, considering the latter comes in contact with your food. The average grill has 1.7 million microbes per square inch, according to a 2013 British study. That's more than twice as many bacteria as the average john. It makes sense that your grill is nasty because food particles cling to the grates and work surfaces.

YOUR FIX: To give it a deep clean, scrub the grates with soap and a scouring pad, scrape out any charred bits from the bottom, clean out the gook in the burners with a paperclip, and rub down the entire exterior with an ammonia-based cleaner and a paper towel.

Your 'clean' laundry

Crap clings to your underwear, whether you can see it or not. When you throw your undies in the laundry, you transfer about 500 million E. coli bacteria to the machine, according to Gerba. On top of that, water tends to settle in the bottom of front-loading machines, making it a breeding ground for germs. Then you wash your clothes in that mess.

YOUR FIX: To make sure your clothes come out actually clean, do a load of whites first so you can use chlorine bleach to sanitize the machine. Dedicate a cycle to underwear and use hot water with a color-safe bleach substitute. Also, run an empty cycle with bleach once every month to keep your washer free of bacteria.

Your toothbrush

When you flush your toilet, it can spray aerosolized droplets over 20 feet, says Philip Tierno Jr., Ph.D., director of microbiology and immunology at NYU's Langone Medical Center and the author of The Secret Life of Germs. So if you leave your toothbrush out on the bathroom sink, it could be showered with tiny drops of whatever you just flushed.

YOUR FIX: Stowing your toothbrush in a cabinet away from the flying feces might be a good idea. Running it through the dishwasher will also eliminate germs, according to a 2011 study in the American Journal of Dentistry. An even easier option: soak your toothbrush in a mouthwash that contains cetylpyridinium chloride, like Scope, for 20 minutes.

Your kitchen sponge

Your sponge is probably the nastiest thing in your kitchen. It's damp and constantly in contact with bacteria, making it a prime place for germs to proliferate. There's a one in three chance your kitchen sponge has staph, according to a Simmons College study. (That's twice the contamination rate of your toilet.) And it could be harboring 10 million bacteria per square inch—that's 200,000 times dirtier than your toilet, according to studies from the University of Arizona.

Elevator buttons

Going up? That elevator button could be crawling with more bacteria than a toilet, a new study from the University of Toronto found. Another large study from Saudi Arabia found that 97 percent of elevator buttons in offices and residential buildings are contaminated. One in 10 had germs that could cause food poisoning or sinus infections.

YOUR FIX: Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer after you press the "up" button should kill any bacteria you picked up, the researchers say.

Your keyboard

How often do you chow down a hoagie at your desk while tapping away at your computer? Those keys, and now your hands—and your sandwich—are covered in germs. One London study found that keyboards could harbor up to five times the bacteria that's on a toilet seat. The large Saudi Arabian study also found 93 percent of keyboards to be contaminated—one in five carried bacteria that could cause food poisoning or sinus infections.

YOUR FIX: Wipe down your office keyboard—along with your phone, mouse, desk, and monitor—with an electronic safe disinfectant wipe every day, says Lola Stamm, M.D., an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And stop eating at your desk.

The ATM

You might be getting more than cold, hard cash from the ATM. Each button you touch has an average of 1,200 germs—including cold and flu viruses and E. coli, according to University of Arizona researchers. And speaking of cash: 94 percent of $1 bills carry bacteria that could make you sick, according to a study in the Southern Medical Journal.

YOUR FIX: Like the elevator buttons, or anything in public you come in contact with, wash up or use hand sanitizer after you hit up the money machine.

The gas pump

Don't munch on car snacks after filling up your tank. More than 70 percent of gas pump handles have germs that can spread disease, a Kimberley-Clarke study found.

YOUR FIX: Keep an alcohol-based hand sanitizer in your ride and use it every time you pump.

Everything else in the bathroom

Your hands could actually be germier after washing them than they were before. That's no exaggeration: One 2011 study from the University of Arizona found that one in four refillable soap dispensers in public bathrooms was contaminated and pumped out bacteria. Another study tested whether those potentially disease-causing germs could be left on your hands after washing. The short answer: Yup. Hot air dryers can also blow up to 45 percent more bacteria onto your hands, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.

YOUR FIX: Look for soap dispensers that have bags in them, rather than those that are refilled by pouring more soap into them. Use paper towels to dry off, and then use them to turn off the faucet and open the door as you leave.

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